The Mob Doctor: Worth Watching? Critics Say…

by Trevor Kimball, September 17, 2012

Tonight, FOX unveils their first new drama of the 2012-13 season, The Mob Doctor. The title tells us exactly what the show’s about but will viewers be interested enough to bring the new TV series adequate ratings to keep the show from being cancelled?

The Mob Doctor follows a young and beautiful female physician (Jordana Spiro) who works at a prestigious Chicago hospital, while moonlighting for the mob and performing all kinds of medical fêtes to pay off her brother’s gambling debt. The TV show also features Floriana Lima, Zach Gilford, Željko Ivanek, Wendy Makkena, Jesse Lee Soffer, William Forsythe, and James Carpinello.

Is Mob Doctor worth your time? Here’s what some of the critics think:

Boston Globe: “Judging by the pilot, each week we’ll get a hospital story line in which Grace will break some rule, solve the problem, and suffer little to no consequences driving her haughty superiors — including a so-far underutilized Zeljko Ivanek — supportive colleagues, and irritated boyfriend just a little bit crazier. She will then be called upon, at the most inopportune moment — preferably during sex or a touching family moment — to handle a medical case for the mob: stitching up an enforcer or prescribing something for the boss. She will then have some sort of argument with her family and her boyfriend…

Alexander gives Grace an option: hit the road and start a new life helping people somewhere else, or stay and work off her brother’s debt with no guarantee of total protection. You owe no such debt to Fox, feel free to refuse this offer.”

Esquire: “In between meetings with hospital superiors and various subcommittees of syndicate underlings, the plot of the show flounces from one late-season ho-hum ER setup to another — a pediatric patient whose life hangs in the balance, a criminal informant going under our heroine’s scalpel, a quick smoochy scene in a deserted hospital room, and the introduction of a sultry rival doctress. It’s possible that the central tension of the show’s title is simply too confoundingly obvious. Spiro’s a mob doctor after all, which may be the show’s only really interesting health issue.”

Chicago Tribune: “The writers may surprise us, but this is one of those shows where the premise’s most dramatic implications happen right away, in the pilot, and you wonder where it can go. Maybe a crossover episode with Mob Wives Chicago?”

USA Today: “Fox is joking, right? Surely the network that helped re-energize the medical drama with House — and elevate its own critical standing in the process — doesn’t really want us to take Mob Doctor (* star out of four, Fox, 9 p.m. Monday) seriously?…

You could, if you wish, watch tonight trying to isolate the show’s worst moment… But why bother trying to separate the bad from the worse when it’s all awful. Which is what happens when you concoct a show out of leftover scraps instead of new ideas. And that’s no joke.”

Kansas City Star: “If Spiro looks familiar, it might be because you saw her in a much better show, TBS’ My Boys, a half-hour comedy that was too smart for its own good and lasted four seasons until 2010. She also guest-starred on the sixth season of Dexter. She’s back to extreme likability mode as Grace Devlin, but Mob Doctor has all the subtlety of a screwdriver to the forehead.”

SF Chronicle: “The Mob Doctor, a new dramatic series on Fox, defies both the laws of physics and of television itself: Despite being jam-packed with plot twists, character reveals, surprises, a car chase, a couple of dead people and a lot of cell phone calls followed by ‘I have to go,’ it is a constant struggle for a viewer to avoid being bored to tears…

The concept is silly, a kindergarten class could have fashioned a more credible script, the characters are unbelievable, and the performances are awful. Because there’s a good chance the cast will be looking for work very soon, I won’t single any specific performance out for criticism. To be fair, Meryl Streep and Dame Judi Dench couldn’t sell this drivel.”

Boston Herald: “Some TV series get by through sheer force of will. They embrace their inner stupidity and race along, figuring you’ll never catch up. Take Fox’s The Mob Doctor, whose title tells you everything you need to know about this show: She’s a surgeon! She makes house calls on crooks! This show almost works, and credit has to go to star Jordana Spiro (My Boys), who imbues her Dr. Grace Devlin with equal parts brass and cleverness… Spiro has positively curative powers on your screen, but the prognosis looks dire for Mob Doctor.

What do you think? Have you watched The Mob Doctor on FOX? What did you think? Will you watch again?

I was watching the whole show. But I hoped they would get the curve somewhere. I’m seriously pissed with the finale, which is as plausible as a rambo-outfitted Grace running amok in the hospital, standing for a while watching the newborns going pop under the fire of her rambo-style held machinegun. She’s a doctor? Serious? I thought the american health system is bad, but that they have female doctors that make Hanibal Lector or Dexter look really nice guys to spend time with… What a waste of time. I hope the series stays at the fishes and the autor is… Read more »

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January 9, 2013 8:05 am

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Liz

I will definitely watch all episodes of Mob Doctor, I will be very disappointed if this show is cancelled!!!!!

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December 2, 2012 11:15 pm

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dirtymustard

The show has promise. Wish they had cast Jordana Spiro as lead in Alcatraz. That show might still be on the schedule.

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September 19, 2012 6:03 pm

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Georgia

Why all the negativity? It was a great show. I hopwe it is given a chance. House jumped the shark during the last two seasons. This is a subtle change.

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September 18, 2012 10:46 am

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Why Watch

This won’t be on my to watch list. I couldn’t take it after 30 minutes and turned it off. In order to survive, this shows needs massive surgery to fix its problems.